1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sound effect imparting apparatus, and more particularly to an electrically configured reverberation effect imparting apparatus for imparting a reverberation effect to inputted signals by conducting signal processing on the inputted signals such as musical tone signals externally supplied from a musical instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has conventionally been well-known in the art such an artificial reverberation device of a mechanical type as shown in FIG. 3, which comprises an inner box 11 suspended by a plurality of suspension springs 14 within an outer box 15, a pair of support plates 12a and 12b fixed on the inner box 11, a plurality of coil springs 13 bridged between the support plates 12a and 12b, electromagnetic transducers (not shown) each provided at one end of each coil spring 13 and pick-up elements (not shown) each provided at the other end of each coil spring 13, wherein inputted signals are applied to the electromagnetic elements to torsionally vibrate the respective coil springs 13 and to convert the vibrations of the coil springs 13 at the other ends to electrical signals by means of the pick-up elements, the converted electrical signals being combined to make a composite reverberation output. The reverberation effect imparted to the externally inputted signals such as musical instrument tone signals by means of this type of reverberation device shows still on-going popularity among some music enthusiasts.
On the other hand, there has also been known in the art such a sound effect imparting device as shown in the unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-129165, which comprises delay circuits, memories, arithmetic circuits, and various electric circuits arranged in combination to constitute a plurality of delay loop means including first delay means to which are supplied input signals and second delay means which delay the output from the first delay means and feed back the delayed output from the second delay means to the input side of the first delay means, input signal supplying means which supplies externally inputted signals to the input side of each first delay means in each of the plurality of delay loop means, and composite output means which combines the output signals from the respective first delay means in the plurality of delay loop means and outputs the combined output signals.
The above-exemplified conventional reverberation devices, however, have inherent drawbacks such that the former type is mechanically constructed and therefore is expensive in production costs and requires a relatively large space for installation, and further requires careful handling, and that the latter type is not capable of sufficiently simulating the reverberation effect realized by the former mechanical reverberation device. Therefore, there has long been a want of an apparatus which electrically realizes the reverberation effect obtained by the former mechanical type reverberation device among some of music enthusiasts.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to solve the above want and provide an acoustic effect imparting apparatus which can be constructed in a compact size, and in low manufacturing costs, and which can be easily handled, and electrically realizes the rich reverberation effects as would be obtained by the former mechanical reverberation device.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a first constructional feature resides in that a sound effect imparting apparatus is constructed by providing: a plurality of delay loops each including a first delay device which delays an inputted signal to output a first delayed output signal, a second delay device which is connected to the first delay device and delays the first delayed output signal to output a second delayed output signal and feeds back the second delayed signal to the input side of the first delay device; an input signal supplier which receives an external input signal externally inputted to the apparatus and supplies the external input signal to input sides of the respective first delay devices of the plurality of delay loops; a composite output device which combines the delayed output signals from the respective first delay devices of the plurality of delay loops and outputs a combined delayed output signal; a first delayed signal supplier which controls a signal characteristic of each of the second delayed signals outputted from each of the second delay devices independently from the other second delayed signals from other second delay devices and supplies the controlled signal to the input sides of the first delay devices of other delay loops than the delay loop to which each of the second delay devices belongs; and a second delayed signal supplier which controls a signal characteristic of each of the first delayed signals outputted from each of the first delay devices independently from the other first delayed signals from other first delay devices and supplies the controlled signal to the input sides of the second delay devices of other delay loops than the delay loop to which each of the first delay device belongs.
According to this aspect of the present invention with the above-mentioned first constructional feature, a plurality of delay loops simulate the propagation of vibration along a plurality of coil springs 13 in the mechanical reverberation apparatus as described above with respect to the prior art, and the first and the second delayed signal supplier simulate the propagation of vibration on the plurality of coil springs 13 from one of the coil springs 13 to other coil springs 13 via the supporting plates 12a and 12b. This can electrically imitate the propagation characteristic of vibration among a plurality of coil springs which takes place via the supporting plates 12a and 12b in the aforementioned mechanical reverberation apparatus, and therefore this can realize the reverberation effect which is close to that of such a mechanical reverberation apparatus in a low manufacturing cost and in a compact size, and in an easy-to-handle configuration.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a second constructional feature resides in that a sound effect imparting apparatus is constructed by providing: the like plurality of delay loops; the like input signal supplier; and the like composite output device all as mentioned above; and further comprises a combined signal supplier which combines the first delayed signals and the second delayed signals respectively from the first delay devices and the second delay devices in the plurality of delay loops and controls a signal characteristic of the combined signal to thereafter supply the controlled signal to the input sides of the first and the second delay devices of the plurality of delay loops.
According to this aspect of the present invention with the above-mentioned second constructional feature, a plurality of delay loops simulate the propagation of vibration along a plurality of coil springs 13 as in the case of above-mentioned first constructional feature, and the combined signal supplier simulates the propagation of vibration wherein the vibrations propagating along the plurality of coil springs 13 are transmitted from the coil springs 13 to the external box 15 via the supporting plates 12a and 12b, the inner box 11 and the plurality of suspension springs 14 and wherein thus transmitted vibrations on the external box 15 are transmitted from the external box 15 back to the plurality of coil springs 13 via the plurality of suspension springs 14, the inner box 11 and the supporting plates 12a and 12b. This can electrically imitate the propagation characteristic of vibration between the coil springs 13 and the external box 15 in the aforementioned mechanical reverberation apparatus, and therefore this can realize the reverberation effect which is close to that of such a mechanical reverberation apparatus in a low manufacturing cost and in a compact size, and in an easy-to-handle configuration.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a third constructional feature resides in that a sound effect imparting apparatus is constructed by providing: the like plurality of delay loops; the like input signal supplier; and the like composite output device all as mentioned above; and further comprises an output signal supplier which controls a signal characteristic of said combined delayed output signal from said composite output device and thereafter supplies the controlled signal to the input sides of the respective first and second delay devices of said plurality of delay loops.
According to this aspect of the present invention with the above-mentioned third constructional feature, a plurality of delay loops simulate the propagation of vibration along a plurality of coil springs 13 as in the case of above-mentioned first constructional feature, and the output signal supplier simulates the propagation of vibration wherein the acoustic vibration resulting from the generated tone signals are transmitted from atmosphere to and through the outer box 15, the suspension springs 14, the inner box 11, the supporting plates 12a and 12b and the plurality of coil springs 13. This can electrically imitate the feedback characteristic of the acoustic vibration to the mechanical elements of the reverberation apparatus, and therefore this can realize the reverberation effect which is dose to that of such a mechanical reverberation apparatus in a low manufacturing cost and in a compact size, and in an easy-to-handle configuration.